Treacherous Footing
by TheArchimage
Summary: Chara sleeps in and tries to find their siblings, only to find all of them placed in extreme peril. How can they reunite and escape safely when the very floor is lava?


AN: This story does not fit into the same world as my other fics. All the kiddos are about six and live in the same house with Toriel and Asgore, while they are all much older in my main series and the living arrangements are a bit more complicated. There are a couple other details that render it a different continuity, but I hope this story's non-canonical nature does not make it any less enjoyable to read.

* * *

Chara woke up to the sound of something clattering downstairs. They blinked into the late morning sun peeking through the blinds of the room they shared with their two siblings. Something itchy dug into their side and they pinched a tuft of white fur from between their sheets, evidence that Asriel had sneaked into their bed last night confident he would wake up before Chara. It would have been the perfect crime were it not shedding season. They could not find it in themself to be mad, though. They peeled away their covers with a yawn, deciding they might as well get up. They stumbled to the bathroom to wash their face and hopefully rinse the last traces of sleep from their brain. Chara was very mature for their age; they could be counted on to wash and dress themselves because they were a big kid. That was why they could get away with sleeping in a little on the weekends. Frisk, meanwhile, had to be nagged to take their baths and brush their teeth and all the other upkeep demanded by the sack of meat called "the human body". Asriel, on the other hand, had always been an early riser so they had no trouble in the mornings.

The shower stall was sized for Asgore and Toriel with a secondary showerhead for their smaller children. Everything in the house was Asgore-sized, which was fine. Chara liked how luxurious Asgore's house felt. New Home had been the same way, but back then they were far too intimidated to appreciate it. Now they felt like they lived in a palace. That Asgore had little choice in the matter made it no less agreeable; no home built for humans would have had ceilings tall enough for his weight or halls wide enough for his girth, and there was no homeowner's association in the state that would have let him get away with a deep winter greenhouse for growing flowers and vegetables year-round even in the frigid cold. True, it took some time since everything had to be custom-built for him, but the end result was spectacular.

Chara had just finished brushing their teeth when something loud and heavy enough to make the whole house shake thumped downstairs. They turned the water off and replaced their toothbrush, wiping a bit of foam from their chin before leaving the bathroom to investigate what their troublesome siblings were up to now.

The downstairs living room was a disaster area. Frisk and Asriel had knocked the couch backwards, their knees against what were supposed to be the backrest. They threw their bodies at the cushions again and again to try and get the couch right side up, but their combined weight was insufficient for the task. A lamp and an end table had also been knocked over, though thankfully it appeared nothing had suffered any damage. Papers and magazines which had been on the end table littered the floor and throw pillows had been hurled across the room in a haphazard fashion. "What on earth are you two doing?" Chara called from the staircase.

"Trying to fix the couch," Frisk explained.

Chara descended the stairs with a sigh. "Putting aside how it got knocked over, wouldn't it be simpler to grab it by-"

" _Wait!_ Don't come down!" Frisk bared their teeth in a wince and held up their hands, waving them back and forth with fingers splayed.

The panic in their voice made Chara pause with their right foot in mid-air, hovering just a few inches above the floor with their left foot on the last step. "And why is it so important I remain here? Do you wish to be rid of me that badly?"

Frisk swallowed. "W-Well… you can come down, it's just-"

Asriel finished for them with grave seriousness: "The floor is lava."

The… what? Chara scrunched up their eyes. "If we were this close to lava, shouldn't the heat have cooked us all to death?"

Asriel was quick to counter, "It's magic. We can get close but if we touch it we'll burn up and die instantly."

That made perfect sense. Chara retracted their foot, eyeing the floor with newfound wariness. "A dastardly trap… and in my home no less. There will be retribution when I find the one responsible."

"C'mon Chara!" Frisk waved over. "If you make it to us we can flip the couch back over!"

"And how do you propose I do that? There isn't anything I can use as a bridge." The stairs led right to the front door, Perhaps they could leap to the shoe holder, but there was no guarantee it would support their weight. Even if it could there were no other platforms which could be reached from there.

Frisk pointed at something in the shadow of the stairwell which Chara could not see. "There's a desk there. If you can get around to the other side of the handrail…"

Chara leaned over the side of the banister. Aha, they saw what Frisk meant. Asgore had put a writing desk up against the stair wall where he would fill out papers when he wanted to work from home. From there they could hop onto the back of Toriel's comfy chair and then to the couch to rejoin their companions. True, Chara could not reach the desk from the bottom step of the stairs, but…

They kicked their slippers off and toward the door; they would need the extra grip from their bare feet for this. They got a firm grip on the banister and swung around to the opposite side of it, standing on the tiny bit of the stairs that peeked out from underneath. There was only enough room for their toes to get a grip; if their hands let go of the banister for the slightest moment they would fall backwards into the living room and to certain death. Sliding their hands one at a time while stepping carefully, they climbed the stairs back up on the reverse side of the handrail. They had to crouch down so their head would not hit the ceiling, but they were able to make it to just above the desk.

Chara could not tilt their head at the correct angle to see where they were landing; no helping it, they were going to have to fly blind. They took a couple breaths to try and psyche themself up, then carefully reached down with one foot. Their toes probed this way and that but found no purchase; the desk must be even further below. Maybe if they got a hold of the stairs by their hands and dangled down they could gently settle themself without falling? They could get one hand down without trouble, but to make room for their other hand they would have to let their feet dangle. Could they really hold their entire body weight up one-handed, even if for only a moment?

"Are you okay? You need help?" Frisk's voice sounded concerned-bordering-on-distressed.

"I'm fine," Chara said through a strained throat, not sounding nearly as reassuring as they hoped. Their toes and fingers were starting to ache, their arms were wobbly, and their chest was starting to hurt. Damn those two, Chara was not as athletic as they were! "I just need to drop down and I can jump from here to the couch. I'll be with you in a moment."

"That's a relief," Asriel said. "Just watching you is making me nervous."

"Well excuse me," Chara said while rolling their eyes. "If either of you had thought to warn me before springing this-"

Their fingers slipped. They felt a brief rush of wind as they tumbled down and landed on Asgore's desk butt-first. The impact sent papers flying through the air and a tall cup full of writing implements toppled over the edge of the desk; even the lamp skittered dangerously close. Chara, however, was still falling backwards. They instinctively reached a hand out behind them to steady themself and their heart lurched when they found nothing. They felt their center of gravity shift away from the desk and over the precipice, and then they fell backwards towards the bubbling, hungry magma below.

They felt a wave of static electricity wash over them. The feeling had a particular spikiness with a soothing aftereffect they had long ago associated with Asriel's magic. In the same instant their body stopped falling with a jolt and they hovered in the air. Chara took deep breaths to put air back in their lungs; they had been about to land head-first. Even on carpet that would have been dangerous… no, no, it was lava. It would be deadly. They looked to their chest to see a blue heart. Gravity magic, then. "Thanks Ree," they croaked. "But if you could do that, how come I had to climb all the way here?"

"This's harder than it looks," Asriel squeezed out. It was true, even holding Chara in place was highly taxing. Blue magic required a great deal of precision, even the slightest twitch in the wrong direction could send the subject hurtling across the room at rapidly accelerating speeds. By all rights it was a miracle Asriel had caught them at all, let alone able to keep them there. His right arm was outstretched with his left hand clasped around his wrist to provide support. His brow was furrowed in concentration and he spoke through clenched teeth.

Chara held out their arms towards the chair back. "Alright, you can guide me to Toriel's chair. But gently! Gent-" Too late. They were hurled to the side as the full force of gravity shifted parallel to the ground. They belly-flopped into the back of the chair, pushing the air out of their lungs with an "oomph!" and knocking the chair off its back legs. It listed, teetered for a moment, then fell forward with a thud which reverberated through the house. Chara reflexively grabbed for the edges of the chair, barely managing to hold themselves up as the tingles of Asriel's magic faded. The chair was now balanced on the end of the armrests as a fulcrum, Chara's weight pushing the top of chair against the floor but that could easily change if they shifted position. The back was convex and the angle was poor, so they were in constant danger of slipping.

"I'm sorry!" Asriel cried, cheeks flushed from his exertion. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"I'm okay," Chara winced as they put a hand to their chest. "My ribs broke the fall. Or the fall broke my ribs, one of the two."

Asriel breathed a sigh of relief even as Frisk whined. He reassured his adopted sibling, "If they can still joke, they're fine. They're just one leap away from us now so we'll all be together soon."

"Uh, about that." Chara winced as they tried to climb higher and the chair wobbled dangerously. Even shifting their weight caused the chair to lurch. "I don't think I can make that jump, this is way too precarious." They looked about for another safe spot to stand and found none. "Hey, could one of you maybe peel off a cushion and make a land bridge?"

"That won't work!" Frisk insisted. "It _has_ to be the fernshure!"

Unfortunate, but they thought that might be the case. If the couch could be flipped right-side up again they could simply slide over and have Asriel and Frisk pull them the rest of the way, but they needed Chara on the couch to flip it right-side up to begin with. What a quandary. "Okay, I have an idea. Lean over the side of the couch and pull the lever to make the footrest stick out. Both of you." Frisk and Asriel obeyed, popping out the footrests on their respective sides of the couch and pulling them up to lock them in place. 哲ow stand up and push on the footrest! You値l have more leverage.

Frisk and Asriel looked at each other and nodded, calling out, "1, 2, 3!" before jumping onto the footrests and hanging off them. The couch came down like a hammer, nearly flipping the two kids off into the brown fuzzy lava before settling backwards right-side up. Frisk and Asriel scrambled back to a proper sitting position while giggling. Chara wasted no time; they got as good of a foothold as they were going to and made a jump for the couch, landing on their side and rolling into the back while missing having their head end up in Asriel's lap by inches. Toriel's chair rocked back and forth, looking like it was going to list over onto its side but managing to correct itself eventually.

The siblings have reunited, Chara narrated with a tiny smile. Frisk clapped and Asriel helped them sit up.

As all three of them caught their breath they looked out across the landscape of the living room. Yes, they were all together, but what now? The lava was not going anywhere. There were only three exits from the room: the stairs, the kitchen, and the front door. The space between the living room and the kitchen was open-concept, but getting there would require a tremendous leap onto the kitchen's hard floor. The front door was closed securely and there were no platforms from which the doorknob could be reached. The stairwell was also unreachable; the only way there would be to take Chara's route in reverse, a prospect that looked even more daunting than their initial path.

As they discussed what they were going to do a loud voice came out from behind them. "Oh my," Asgore said. "What is going on here?

Chara whirled around and poked their head over the back of the couch. Asgore was in the middle of taking off his gardening gloves and putting them on the island countertop in the kitchen as he observed his children's activities. Chara warned, "Dad! Don't come in!"

Asriel popped up next to them, nodding furiously. "The floor is lava!"

Asgore eyed the living room and stroked his beard. "I see," he mused. "That is most distressing. Well, the kitchen appears safe to stand on… it must only be the carpet."

The kids looked to each other and decided that if the alternative was to watch their dad catch fire and die, he must be correct. Frisk said, "Yeah, the kitchen's safe."

"Then I can help you escape. Make a jump for it! I'll catch you." Asgore held out his big paws and gestured for them to come over.

Chara complained, "Can't you just use magic to float us over there?"

"That would hardly be sporting," Asgore said with a smile. "Think of how the lava would feel to have its challenge bypassed so easily."

They were about to make an argument that of _course_ lava did not have feelings but remembered in time that it was already established that this lava was magic, and who was to say magic lava could not be alive? Once again the logic was ironclad. "Alright, let's jump for it," Chara agreed. "Frisk, you go first. You're the best jumper so if you can't make it the two of us know we'll have no chance."

Asriel and Frisk nodded. Asriel followed it with, "Chara, you after, since you got to choose who goes first."

"I'm not sure how that logic works."

Frisk poked Chara in the side. "It's 'cause he's better at sports than you, so he knows if you can make it he can too." Then they put one foot up on the back of the couch and launched themself toward the kitchen before Chara could make a retort. Frisk was graceful in the air, soaring majestically with arms wide to give Asgore a flying hug. Asgore caught them easily and Frisk wrapped their arms around his neck, giggling with delight. Asgore patted them on the back and put them down on the ground, and then they both looked at Chara expectantly. Chara began to think Asriel was making them go first simply because he did not want to follow a performance like that.

Chara took a breath to steady their nerves. They had embarrassed themself on the desk, their chest and backside still hurt from that escapade, and this was their chance to redeem themself. They planted one foot on the armrest and another on the back of the couch, eyeing the gap between them and the safety of the kitchen. So far! Had Frisk really crossed it so effortlessly? Nothing for it, they would have to take their best leap. And so the did, stepping out into the air and pushing off with a furious grunt.

For a moment they thought they would not make it. Their angle was bad, they did not have enough forward momentum, they did not defy gravity for long enough. They imagined landing in the lava with a splash, writhing in agony as they were consumed and their family watched in horror. But then! Two big furry paws snapped them out of the air, cradling them for just a moment before depositing them safely on the linoleum.

"That was great!" Frisk congratulated, offering a high-five. Chara wanted to argue that it wasn't nearly as impressive as Frisk's own leap, but their face still felt too rigid and their heart rabbited in their chest, so they held up a hand for Frisk to clap with.

After their death-defying leap Asriel's jump was an anti-climax; he hurled himself off the couch, causing it to skid an inch forward from the force of his kick-off. Asgore caught him in both arms and nuzzled his nose against his son's forehead, provoking an offended, "Daaaaaad!" from the embarrassed goat child. Then Asriel was deposited with his siblings and they shared their joy at having escaped certain doom.

"Well! That was certainly fun!" Asgore said. He looked out to survey the living room. "Of course, now that it's done with we have to clean up the mess we made. Your mother will be home any minute and-"

But when he looked again he noticed he was alone; his children had already left him behind. He barely had time to register his predicament before the front door opened and Toriel walked in with a shriek as she noticed the mess. Furniture overturned, papers scattered, and nothing was in the place it ought to be. "Asgo~re…" she fumed, tapping her foot. "I believe I asked you to watch the children and keep them out of trouble, did I not?"

Asgore could only sigh and prepare himself for what was to come.


End file.
